What's going on

We're in the most hectic part of Chennai's music season. In the mornings, lectures from performers and musicologists (sometimes in English, sometimes in Tamil) start at 8:00 AM. If I make it to a lecture, I'll see a mid-morning concert or bike home for lunch. In the afternoon, I might have a lesson or take a nap. The big artists normally perform at 4:30 or 6:00, so I head out again for my main concert-going experience. These concerts last upwards of three hours. There seems to be a healthy sense of competition between the top-name artists. If one singer performs a piece that moves through a dizzying procession of 10+ ragas, others will feel compelled to introduce similar pieces.

My music lessons are more or less done, especially since my teachers and I are both busy with things we want to see. My Tamil lessons wrapped up yesterday. I can read slowly and say simple sentences, but am by no means conversational.

I have lots of half-completed blog entries and lists of things I want to write about, so I will try to catch up before I leave India. That's happening January 8th.